The Syrian opposition has offered Assad's forces a truce for the duration of the holy month of Ramadan to stop fighting in the besieged city of Homs, Reuters reports citing Syrian National Coalition chief Ahmad Jarba.

In his first interview to the news agency since the vote, Jabra
also said that the Syrian main opposition group would not attend
the Geneva conference, brokered by the US and Russia unless they
gain more military power.
"Geneva in these circumstances is not possible. If we are going
to go to Geneva we have to be strong on the ground, unlike the
situation now, which is weak. We cannot go to Geneva unless we
are strong," Syria National Coalition chief was quoted as
saying.

Ahmad Jabra, who has close links to Saudi Arabia, said that he
hopes shoulder-fired weapons will reach the rebels “soon”.

"We are pushing in this direction," he said. "I think
the situation is better than before. I think these weapons will
arrive in Syria soon."

"My priority to secure two-tier support for the Syrian people:
military and humanitarian. We are working qualitative and medium
and other weapons to reach the Free Syrian army and the liberated
areas," he said.

Jabra was speaking in Istanbul where he was elected
president of the Syrian National Coalition at a meeting this
weekend following the resignation of former president Moaz
Alkhatib earlier this year. On July 6, Assad forces seized control of buildings
in a rebel-held area of Homs, a strategically important city
located between the capital Damascus and the Syrian coast.

Some of the
worst fighting in the civil war has taken place in the besieged
city of Homs with government troops using mortars, rocket fire
and heavy artillery to target rebel areas, the UK-based Syrian
Observatory for Human Rights said.

The group estimated 60 to 70 percent of the city was “damaged,
destroyed or unsuitable for habitation."

"Of all Syria's cities, Homs has suffered the highest levels
of destruction... Images of Homs make it look like a world war
has hit the city. Much of it has been flattened," Observatory
director Rami Abdel Rahman said as cited by AFP.